teen

01/19/2012

"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

--The Fault in Our Stars

This is a book that's being reviewed far and wide all over the universe if you'd like to read more about it. It's currently #1 on the young adult New York Times bestseller list. I think this is a lovely and special book to be sure, but rather than "review" the book, per se, I want say something about Nerdfighteria.

I've read all of John Green's books. (Looking for Alaska is my favorite; I wrote about it here.) I was aware of the existence of Nerdfighteria. (Here is a Nerdighter FAQ if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) I knew that they like to say, "Don't forget to be awesome." I've truthfully always thought the whole thing seemed kind of corny, even for me, and I am pretty dang corny. But I'd never been around any Nerdfighters (that I know of) until last night.

When I drove up beautiful St. Charles Avenue toward the historic temple where the Tour de Nerdfighting event featuring John Green and Hank Green was being held, there were people lined up on the sidewalk well down the block. I thought to myself, "I guess there are some Nerdfighers in New Orleans," and rushed through the cold darkness, dodging the street car coming up the line, and walked inside, settling in one of the pews and feeling the energy in the air. These kids were psyched. And they stayed that way the entire time. "I can't believe how many adults are here," a girl behind me observed loudly, and I smiled to myself. I smiled so much throughout the evening that my face hurt as I drove home.

A group of three or four teenagers spilled into the row behind me and immediately took notice of a guy sitting nearby who was kind of keeping to himself. "Oh my God! We didn't expect to see YOU here! What are you doing here?" They peppered him with questions, talking over each other all at once. "Yeah," the guy said, kind of sighing, "This is kind of the other side of me." The solo guy kind seemed kind of straightlaced and calm, possibly a football player. The group surprised by his presence had more of a spazzy punk rock alternative free spirited sort of style. But there they were, smooshed side by side in the row. "I feel like this is something you would make fun of me for! But -- you're here!" said one of the girls. He sighed, "Yeah." Then the girl said, "Are you a Nerdfighter? I can't believe you're a Nerdfighter! It's not fair!" And he said, "What do you mean?" And she said, "That you, like, hide." One of the other guys yelled, "Do you have a Tumblr?" And the football player guy said, "Yeah ... no," like, "As if." Then the group said they were going to take and post a picture of him as evidence that he was there. He laughed, "It's okay ... no one I know has a Tumblr." But as they snapped his picture, he held up his copy of The Fault in Our Stars and he smiled.

"Who am I to say that these things might not be forever? Who is Peter Van Houten to assert as fact the conjecture that our labor is temporary? All I know of heaven and all I know of death is in this park: an elegant universe in ceaseless motion, teeming with ruined ruins and screaming children."

-- The Fault in Our Stars

This was a night of reading, songs, answering questions, and talking about books and life. John Green explained at one point while answering a question that one of the criticisms of his books is that he doesn't sound like he's writing in the voice of an actual teenager. He said, "I just know a lot of hyper-intelligent teenagers," and I thought, "Indeed," looking around at the hundreds of them all around me. They were so messy and weird and quiet and wild and great.

John Green talked about how in an ordinary life, there are not many opportunities for epic heroism -- throwing ourselves on grenades for others, if you will. But that we can be heroic in our own small ways that can ultimately be big ways. Here it is: I think that John Green and Hank Green are heroes. I think they are changing these young people's lives, and I think they are making the world a better place.

So I think that my love and appreciation for the Greens is not so much about the books one Green writes (wonderful) and the songs one Green sings (brilliant) but about this community they've created together that's more than a community, isn't it? It's a movement. And the young people who are a part of this movement simply by being who they are filled that big, beautiful temple last night with so much warmth and empathy and joy and sincere appreciation for the strangeness and uniqueness of every soul in there that it moved me from my head down to my toes. The whole building was vibrating with their joy. I forgot that I thought it was corny to be a Nerdfighter.

They did not forget to cheer when John Green mentioned The Great Gatsby. They did not forget the words as they sang along with Hank Green's songs about Harry Potter and about particle physics. They did not forget to fall silent and listen -- really listen -- when John Green said things like this:

"Forever is an incorrect concept wrongly based on the idea that the sun isn't going to explode. We are temporary. This is temporary, and our responsibility as humans within this temporary -- this weirdly temporary but still sort of, in some ways, infinite -- life that we have, with our gift of consciousness, is to find a way to live as well as we can live, to take the best care that we can of each other and of ourselves, and organize our lives in a way that reflects our values and our hopes for the people who'll come after us, as well as honoring the people who came before us -- that's a very, very complicated thing to do."

They did not forget to stand up and dance together, dragging each other off their feet.

11/27/2011

I have typed and erased, typed and erased the first sentence of this review no fewer than five times. I do not really know how to tell you about this book. I feel like I have been living inside of it since I closed the pages on the first reading. I have now read it twice and am listening to it on audio, and I am quite sure that before the year closes I will have read through the physical book again. I have been a fan of Maggie's for awhile now, and loved the Wolves of Mercy Falls series a lot, but this book is different.

This book is exquisite. This book is magic. This book has moved me in ways that I think I haven't been moved since I first opened a Robin McKinley book. This book is now on my top ten YA of all time list. (Yes, I will write that entry.) This book is not for everyone, and some may dismiss it as being "too horsey," although I think those people may not have been looking deeply enough. To look at THE SCORPIO RACES and see only a book about horses is to miss...so much.

I do not want to spoil a single moment of this story for you, but I want to tell you that it is based on a tiny fragment of a legend about water horses that has been with the author a long time. It is about an island called Thisby, which is in our world, but not, because this book is what we call "alternate history." Our world, but not. Our history, but not. It is about the Scorpio Races, which are run on the beach every year, when the capull uisce (CAPple ISHka) come out of the ocean and into the hands of men, who fight to control their speed and their danger for a brief time in order to be named victor at day's end.

If they survive the beach, that is. And many do not.

And it is about Puck Connolly (and her brothers and her dead parents) and Sean Kendrick (and his dead father) and their mutual desire for freedom and mutual love of horses, and how their stories slide into one another, quietly, seamlessly, beautifully. These two people, who have lost everything and yet still have everything left to lose, somehow find one another amidst the surf and the sorrow and the stunning, beautiful words, and their story - the separate parts and the together parts - weave together to make something that I cannot seem to put down for more than a few days at a time.

It is about horses, and not. It is about love, and not. It is about life and death and magic and folklore and family and debt and honor and OH MY GOODNESS THE SCENE WHERE SEAN BRINGS THE BREAD TO DINNER. And the last line, which has made me bow my head over the pages and sob twice.

This book. THIS BOOK. This book, if you (or your gift recipient, should you be looking for holiday recommendations) love Robin McKinley or Kristin Cashore or Leah Cypess or Patricia McKillip. This book, which I feel I may never stop reading. This book, which has become tied for my Printz pick (my other favorite will be in another post).

This book, which has curled itself around my heart and lives there still.

(This book, which you can enter to win a hardcover copy of, by going over to Kidliterate's Facebook page. For various reasons I need to up the numbers of fans the blog has on Facebook, so for the time being, contest entries will only be taken there.)

10/12/2011

When you were here in September, I told you how I went and book-talked your books to four schools, and I told them all that SKELETON CREEK would be perfect for them if they liked scary books, but that I didn't like scary books so I had to put it down after chapter four and couldn't watch any of the videos. And what did you say?

"Melissa, just remember that it's me who wrote them! You've met me. I'm the man behind the curtain. I'm not scary!"

Or something like that.

Okay. I thought, I'm a children's bookseller! I am almost 40 years old. I can read a book designed for ages 12 and up and be just fine. Patrick is really nice. I'll just remember that, and I'll be able to get through the book.

I got to page 135. I skipped all the videos. And I freaked myself out so much I locked myself into the bedroom last night.

DEAR PATRICK I DO NOT LIKE SCARY BOOKS THE END.

If you like scary books, this is a scary book. You may not find it all that scary, if you are a connoisseur of scary books; you may read this and think I am a wimp. I am fully prepared to accept that. I like princesses and ponies. And I can tell you, Patrick Carman is an AWESOME writer. He did exactly what he set out to do: scare the pants off me. (Yes, it is all about me.)

Oh, what's the book about, you ask?

A guy named Will suffers from a horrible, crippling phobia. His doctor sends him off with six other teenage phobia sufferers to Fort Eden, a place meant to help people with this problem. None of the teens know anything about what's going on there...except Will. Will's been sneaking into his doctor's files, and not only knows a lot about his fellow patients, but has a lot of info about Fort Eden itself. When they're deposited there, he disappears into the woods with a backpack full of supplies, determined to observe from the outside and see what's really going on.

The teens are put into weird rooms where they are forced to face their worst fears, and when they emerge from the rooms, they seem to be cured. But of course there's more going on here than that, and Will is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Like Patrick's SKELETON CREEK, TRACKERS, and 3:15 series, DARK EDEN includes a lot of electronic content. You can go take The Fear Test. Also at that page is the awesome trailer, and a link to where you can buy the fully interactive book app. With the app you can read the book, watch videos, look at maps of Fort Eden, and really immerse yourself in the book fully. You all know I am not the biggest fan of e-books, but this one is truly special, and I absolutely appreciate what Patrick is trying to do with it: make it irresistable to teens who might have left reading behind or turning to other things. And it WORKS. He is pretty much a genius at this sort of thing, and he's got a great team working with him.

BUT IT IS STILL TOO SCARY FOR ME. I will wait for the sequel to FLOORS, thank you very much.

07/10/2011

When we live through a thing, no matter how hard it is, we still have what matters most -- our life.

A few weeks ago, I heard A.S. King deliver a speech at the Printz Award ceremony in New Orleans. This is something she said in her speech. For fifteen minutes I laughed, wiped away tears, decided I loved her, and asked myself repeatedly why I had not yet read Please Ignore Vera Dietz, a 2010 Printz Honor Book. In her speech, King spoke of life and death, of mothers and fathers, of lies and truth, of daughters and of soulmates. All of these were relative to her own life, but it occurs to me now that these are really what this book is all about, too.

This is the story of Vera Dietz, a motherless girl who dutifully learns her vocabulary words and delivers her pizzas and drinks her vodka and tries to blend in. "Please ignore Vera Dietz" is the message she silently tries to transmit to the world.

Vera's best friend Charlie is dead. Her mother left when Vera was young, and her father stuck around. As we move through the book with Vera, her dad, and Charlie, we slowly learn the truth of what happened with Charlie and how Vera and her dad survive all of this life and loss.

I don't want to tell you too much about this book because it unfolds so slowly and carefully and perfectly, and I want you to uncover its secrets for yourself.

One of the things I will take away from this book is a reminder of the lesson I first learned from The Sound of Music as a tiny girl, what the Mother Superior told Maria: "These walls were not meant to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live." No matter how horrible or uncomfortable or wretched, we have to face the truth of our lives. No matter how crazy and crooked things become, for as long as we're alive, we all have the power to right our own courses. This is one of the many lessons of Vera Dietz.

There were moments in this book where I had to stop reading, close it, and hold the book for my chest and just breathe for a minute. Here is one:

Here's me using the word tandem in a sentence.

We will learn to forgive ourselves in tandem.

--Vera Dietz

I'm doing a lousy job of capturing how funny this book is and how heartbreaking and how really, truly real. Every little detail of what it feels like and is like to be a teenage girl was so vivid and painfully and wonderfully authentic -- I could taste and smell and touch those memories, both Vera's and my own. I'm not even beginning to capture how very much I loved it.

The thing you don't see while you're still there on Earth is how easy it is to change your mind. When you're in it and you're mixed up with feelings, assumptions, influences, and misconceptions, things seem completely impossible to change. From here you see that change is as easy as flicking a light switch in your brain.

--Charlie Kahn

It's so good! It's so good. A.S. King said this in her speech, too:

Our time on earth is far too short to distract ourselves from reality no matter how ugly it is ... something important stayed with me from those few moments I had no mother ... part of me stayed in that immature zone where dreams can come true if you work hard enough, and where reality is exactly as it seems, and where cynicism has little power, and where soulmates can really happen. I am very proud to say I still live in that zone, and I'd like to invite you all over ... you don't have to RSVP ... just drop in when you feel like talking about the truth ... be prepared to laugh. And bring your library card.

She is awesome, and so is her book. Please Ignore Vera Dietz is the best young adult book I've read this year. I will remember it for a long time. And I probably will bug you to read it until you do.

(Special thanks to Sophie Brookover, author of Pop Goes the Library and Printz committee member, for inviting me to the ceremony and for extolling the virtues of this book. I am grateful.)

(Here is King's Printz speech. The video isn't great, but the audio is fine, and that's what matters. I think you will like it. If you hear someone sniffling uncontrollably in the background, it is possibly me.)

01/21/2011

Sarah and I sped through it like madwomen; I got my first blurb on the Indie Next List for it; and then it came out and we sold it. And sold it. And sold it. We handsold that sucker to every teen girl and teen girl's mom that walked through the door, and over the years, we've continued to handsell it (first together, and now apart...sniff). That book was THIRTEEN LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES by Maureen Johnson, and it remains one of my favorite YA novels ever.

So when the ARC of THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE showed up in the box from my Harper rep, my heart sank more than a little. TLBE was fine on its own. I didn't need to know what had happened to Ginny. I was fine with her story being finished (or unfinished, whatever). Couldn't anyone leave well enough alone? Why did everything have to have a sequel? One would be better off asking, "Why didn't you just trust Maureen?" Turns out finishing Ginny's story is a good thing. Turns out I'm pretty darn happy to have the sequel in the world.

I don't want to say much, because if you haven't read TLBE, you should read that first. You absolutely have to read it first. If you've read it, you can sleep soundly knowing that our Ginny is back and better than ever. There's a new, strange boy in her life (not by her choice), and he's the one who pushes her out on her new adventure. There's an old boy, too, causing problems. There's a possible new friend and a whole new series of trips to take. Turns out you open up THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE and it's like opening the door to an old friend. Thanks, Maureen, for the sequel I didn't know I wanted until I had it.

11/05/2010

Full disclosure: Antony John is both a local St. Louis author and a friend.

Last October, at the MBA regional trade show, I went up to say hi to Catherine Gilbert Murdock. She lives near Children's Book World, so I'd sold her kids books on occasion and chatted with her at events. She told me that she had an author friend in St. Louis whose new book was really good and that I should get a copy as soon as I could and get to know him. This was excellent advance info to have, because I have to tell you that hearing that someone local or someone you know has written a book is a scary thing for exactly one reason: what if the book isn't any good? I have been very lucky in this aspect, as the authors local to CBW are awesome, and St. Louis sports a whole bunch of amazing authors as well. But every time you hear about a new one, you cross your heart and hope with all your might that the book will be a good one. So hearing from Catherine that I needed to get my hands on FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB was something that had me emailing my Penguin sales rep right away. And then I actually met Antony before I got my hands on his book, and he turned out to be super nice, so I was crossing my heart and hoping again. So what happened when I finally got my hands on the book and read it? It turned into my favorite contemporary YA novel of the year, and tomorrow night at 7, we'll be celebrating its release with a live high school band and a cake that's probably too big and a whole bunch of wine. (A far better outcome than even I had hoped for.) When Piper was six, she began to lose her hearing. Now she's a senior in high school and she gets by with a combination of hearing aids, lip reading, and signing with whoever's willing to learn – which leaves out her dad, who for some reason has never learned how. Piper's got a baby sister named Grace, and their parents just bought Grace a cochlear implant. With Piper's college money. Without asking her first. Now the deafness that Piper and Grace had in common is gone, and Piper feels more than ever like her parents see deafness as a tragic disability to be cured whenever possible – and that her college education is not as important as making Grace as perfect as she can possibly be made. Frustration, a need for money, and a strange set of circumstances lead Piper down an unexpected road: she becomes the manager of Dumb, a high school band who just won Seattle's annual Teen Battle of the Bands. She quickly learns that her lack of hearing is hardly going to be the hardest thing she has to overcome in her new position; Dumb have problems of their own that are about to become Piper's problems. As her experiences with the band grow, she begins to stretch in ways that are entirely foreign to her parents, adding to the already great tension that hangs around their house. Ultimately Piper will need to learn an entirely new way of navigating her various worlds, and she isn't entirely sure that her parents are ready for her to break out of her box. Add in a possibly fragile relationship with her younger brother, Finn, and a possibly changing friendship with Chess Club-acquaintance-turned-band-member Ed, and Piper's got more on her plate than most people can handle. Piper? Awesome character. Completely awesome. Voice: totally female and believable, which a lot of male writers are really bad at. Exploration of the Seattle music scene: completely cool. Family relationship: multilayered; realistic; heart-wrenching at times. Emotional without being overwrought. Antony's writing: effortless. (At least in feel. I am sure he shed more than a little blood, sweat and tears over this one, but it reads like it just poured out of his head.) FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB: so very highly recommended.

08/13/2010

I could boil this review down to five words: THIS BOOK RULES THE WORLD. or how about THIS BOOK ROCKED MY SOCKS. or GIVE ME THE SEQUEL NOW. or OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. Any of those, really. I tore through this book today and am now completely obsessed. COMPLETELY. When a publisher puts the kind of push behind a book like HarperCollins has done with this book, it often ends up feeling like smoke and mirrors. This book, however, deserves the massive amount of hype that it has gotten. Have I mentioned that it's awesome? Lorien is a planet three hundred million miles away from Earth. Its entire population was killed by another race (the Mogadorians) - except for nine gifted children and their guardians. The 18 survivors fled to Earth where they have been hiding among us, waiting to grow into their Legacies (special powers that many of the Lorien people possess), fight the Mogadorians, and return to revive their home planet. A two-part charm was put on the children before they left: they can only be killed in a certain order, and because of their link, each instantly knows if one of their kind has been killed. Our protagonist is Number Four, fifteen years old, and at the beginning of the book, he has just learned that Number Three has died. John (his new alias) and his guardian, Henri, flee their current home for a small town in Ohio. They move constantly, changing identities, locations, schools in their ongoing attempt to elude the Mogadorians who followed them to Earth. Their life is one of constant vigilance, and it is a life that "John" has tired of as he has gotten older. At his new school, he clashes immediately with the football star and crushes on the star's ex-girlfriend, which leads to a series of events that threaten to expose him for who he truly is. As his Legacies finally begin to develop, as does his new relationship, he becomes less and less certain that the way he is leading his life is sustainable. And every day, Henri becomes more convinced that the evil they are fleeing is growing closer. This is one of those novels that you can't describe in too much depth because one tiny spoiler could ruin everything. So I can tell you this: it's a long book (440 pages) yet there's not one wasted word. The characters are flawed and believable and familiar in the best of ways. The twists surprised me and the bad guys are both original and scary. And the writing is SO GOOD. Imagine my surprise when I Googled Pittacus Lore and learned that he is two people: a writer named Jobie Hughes..and JAMES FREY. Yes, that James Frey. People are surprising me every day in the world of young adult fiction; today is no different. Like the best of collaborative works, I have no idea where one author begins and the other ends. I am, it must be said, a little desperate for the sequel to I AM NUMBER FOUR. I recommend joining me in my obsession as soon as possible. After all, there are still eleven days left until the release of MOCKINGJAY.

07/15/2010

(review by Sarah) When it comes to Cornelia Funke, I have no critical faculties. I can't lie; I love what she does. I love her picture books, I love her middle-grade novels, and I love her young adult novels. I marvel at how she writes in German and then really smart, clever people come along and translate her words, and then she reads the translations, which just boggles my mind. I adore how she allows her novels to unfold, sometimes even somewhat slowly, which is the antithesis of so much of what I read in contemporary children's fiction. Cornelia will make you wait, but she will make the wait worthwhile. Our dear Melissa very bravely stormed the crowds at BEA and snagged me a gorgeous hardcover ARC of RECKLESS, which is Cornelia's first novel published by Little, Brown. Although I was dying to read it, I chose to wait until a week arrived where I had ample time to not just read it, but to savor it. Remember Charlie Bucket and the Wonka Bar he got for his birthday, and how he made it last for weeks? Well, I'm not as patient as Charlie, but I swear I made myself dole out the last hundred pages of RECKLESS over several days, which took great self-control on my part. Why did I love it so much? What is RECKLESS all about? Read on, but I may drop a spoiler or four along the way, so consider yourself warned. The setting: modern-day-ish Europe. Doesn't really matter where. We meet Jacob, a young boy exploring his father's study. Everything is covered with dust; his father is long gone. ('Gone' is the operative word here, as his father is missing, not dead.) Jacob examines a curious mirror in the study, and through the mirror, he discovers another world on the opposite side. Funke fans may feel echoes here of the INKHEART books, where the world beyond ours seems all the more real, but just as the Inkworld was a dangerous place, the Mirrorworld holds its own temptations as well as nightmares. We flash forward to years later; Jacob is now a very experienced treasure-hunter in the Mirrorworld (and has the scars to prove it), and his younger brother, Will, seeks to leave the real world to follow Jacob in the fairy-tale-esque land beyond the mirror. Their time together takes a disastrous turn, however, when Will is attacked by a Goyl, a humanoid race made of stone. The vicious blow starts a chain reaction in Will's body; he is slowly turning to stone. Jacob, who has always felt responsible for his younger brother, seeks to find a cure, but in the Mirrorworld, nothing comes easily, and everything has a price. Jacob is immediately likable; he, like his last name suggests, is reckless, and has a bit of an Indiana Jones/Han Solo thing going on. He's smart, charming, worldly-wise, and yet he's tormented by a childhood without a father, and runs away from conflict. Will, on the other hand, stayed in the real world with their mother until her death, and he blames Jacob for leaving them for months at a time with barely a word. Will also is in love with a young woman named Clara, who is swept along by the Reckless brothers into the Mirrorworld, and she displays a remarkable amount of courage on the journey. What's interesting is that Jacob and Will aren't really even teenagers anymore; they're actually young men, and I was really impressed with Cornelia's choice to make her characters a little older than one usually finds in a young adult novel. Their ages suited the dark, strange Mirrorworld, and gave me confidence as the novel went along that Jacob especially had the chops to handle the hurdles he faces. I will say I'm not quite sure what age RECKLESS is for. I believe it's YA at its heart, but that said, I know well-read twelve-year-olds who would read it and love it, and I think I could easily give it to twenty-or-thirty-something friends too. It's grim at times, and did feature a minor villain with knives for hands that scared the crap out of me. RECKLESS takes its fairy tale inspirations very seriously; there are indeed witches who eat children, there are spells that will turn you into a tree for hundreds of years, and the unicorns will gore you if you get too close. Beyond that, there's an entire political struggle (i.e. war) going on between the humans of the Mirrorworld and the Goyl, which culminates in a climactic battle scene for the throne, and even Jacob's connection to a powerful Fairy may not be enough to save his brother. Will's situation, that of slowly turning into a Goyl, is painful to watch, as he slowly loses his memories of those he loves, as his heart is gradually turning to stone (jade, in his case). I was entirely invested in Jacob's journey, and Funke's gift for writing supporting cast (particularly Fox, who really intrigued me with her motivations) really shone in RECKLESS. Here's my bottom line: nobody writes like Cornelia Funke, as far as I'm concerned. I love her voice because it doesn't sound like anyone else. She has a remarkable gift for description, and I love how she uses iconic imagery to give insight into her characters (the black moths for the Dark Fairy, the Bluejay for Meggie's father, etc). I love how she makes me fall head over heels with her stories every time, and even though I never know what she's going to do, I trust her implicitly. I have been assured by our Little, Brown rep that a sequel is indeed in the works, and for that I'm very grateful, because I'm not ready to let go of the Reckless brothers anytime soon. Note from Melissa: I was hoping Sarah would review this, because I consider her a Cornelia Funke expert in addition to being a super fangirl. I didn't love the INKHEART series, but I love her picture books and THE THIEF LORD and I really, really loved RECKLESS a lot. As an indie bookseller I am very concerned about the price point - it's $19.99, and I can't afford to discount it 33% like the online retailer who would like to put everyone out of business can. $19.99 is a lot to ask a parent to shell out for a novel their kid will likely read in one day (the kind of kid who will read this is the kind of kid who plows through books like a freight train, no matter their length or complexity). Kids' books seem to be increasingly creeping toward this price, and I think it's a big mistake. I also didn't understand Little, Brown's decision to make this ARC a limited edition bound hardcover. Every single shop was going to carry this book anyway, and it was already going to be a bestseller. It's Cornelia Funke. I wish if they were going to spend this kind of money they'd spend it on debut authors who get overlooked.

07/08/2010

Imagine dropping your cell phone into a fountain, and when you get it back, it's broken - except it's not. Now instead of calling everyone you know, it only calls one person: you, at age fourteen. What would you tell yourself? Once Devi gets her younger self to believe that it's actually her on the phone, she sees the connection as her chance to fix everything that's gone wrong in her life. She convinces YoungerDevi to do everything from study harder (so they get into a better college) to convince OlderDevi's former best friend to not get plastic surgery. And, most importantly, she convinces YoungerDevi not to go out with Brian, the boy Devi spent her entire high school life with; the boy she lost all of her friendships over; the boy who just broke her heart. But there's no perfect way to mess with time, as both Devis quickly discover. Even as the college acceptance letter tacked to the wall morphs into one from a better school several times, the tiniest actions on the part of YoungerDevi affect OlderDevi's life in unexpected (and often horrifying) ways. Now she needs YoungerDevi to fix her present as well as her past - but how far is too far? Will she ever be content with things as they are? I thought this was a great read. Like OlderDevi, I have a list of things I'd like YoungerMelissa to go back and change - in theory. What would I give up from my present life in order to have some things I missed out on because of what YoungerMelissa chose to do? (What a great book club book this is.) The most interesting part of the whole thing, to me, is that I infinitely preferred YoungerDevi to OlderDevi, and definitely saw the merit in YoungerDevi getting to make changes in time to fix her future. There's a lot of humor here - sometimes YoungerDevi's decision whips OlderDevi out of one life and into another with absolutely no notice, to hilarious effect. I wish that OlderDevi had had a more indepth realization that she really screwed up her life - that she did it to herself - rather than just insisting that YoungerDevi fix everything. There are moments of reflection, but I wanted them to go farther than they did. Overall, though, this is a really good read (especially for summer) that will make anyone think about the choices they've made and are making in their life. And with the exception of a little underage drinking, it's clean. I definitely recommend it.

12/19/2009

Four series I love came to an end this year. Two I'm okay with; one I'm uncertain about, ONE I AM IN COMPLETE DENIAL ABOUT YES JESSICA DAY GEORGE I AM LOOKING AT YOU. Although I am very sad (and in denial, DON'T LOOK AWAY WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU, JESSICA), fortunately for me (and the other lovers of these series), the closing books were uniformly fantastic. (But don't think that lets you off the hook, Ms. George.)

1. CITY OF GLASS by Cassandra Clare, which I reviewed here. You may remember that in that particular review, I ate some crow over having originally rolled my eyes at hearing that a fanfic writer got a book deal. After spending almost the whole year reading other books, I still think that Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy has one of the best YA series endings I've ever read. I definitely wanted more Clary and Jace and Simon, but all of my major questions were answered and all the ends were tied up well enough. We consistently sell this series over and over again, and I'm always happy to put it in someone's hands.

2. THE LAST OLYMPIAN by Rick Riordan, which I never did get around to reviewing because it came out at a really busy time and I barely had time to read it, let alone write about it. There are probably one or two reviews of this tiny little series roaming around the internet. You may have heard of it - Percy Jackson and the Olympians? (About to be made into a movie that I am skeptical about because the actors are so much older than their kid characters?) Anyway. I knew going in that this was the last book, so I was prepared. I was prepared for it to end, and from reading the other four (and meeting Rick once), I felt that he would not let us down with the ending. I was right. I would like more of Percy's story, but I feel that Rick did him justice, and did the readers justice. That story is over, and I am satisfied. I also knew very, very early that there would only be five, so I had a long time to get used to that fact. Also Rick has a new book coming next year, and while I have no idea what it's about, who's writing it is really what matters in this case.

3. FRONT AND CENTER by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Catherine lives close by to Children's Book World, where I worked (and Sarah still works), so I was lucky enough to get to know her a little. We got in on the ground floor, so to speak, with the D.J. Schwenk books - and we were so lucky to discover them so early. Sarah reviewed FRONT AND CENTER back in July, and when I finally read it in October, I learned that it was every bit as good as Sarah said it was. It is an incredibly satisfying close to D.J.'s story. And if you've yet to discover D.J. and her family and her world, the good news is that all three books are out so there is no waiting for you.

4. DRAGON SPEAR by Jessica Day George. Pull up a chair, Jessica. (Can I call you Jessica?) Okay, look. Here's the deal. I know that you can finish DRAGON SPEAR and see that Creel's story has a resolution, and that the dragons got a resolution and we have a happy ending and blah blah blah. And a trilogy is a nice round set of three, so you dotted your i's and crossed your t's and wrapped it up without staying at the party too long like so many others tend to. COME BACK TO THE PARTY, JESSICA. (I'm going to talk to the readers now. Try the appetizers!) Back when I read the ARC of DRAGON SPEAR I insisted that you all go and read this series if you hadn't yet. I am expecting, of course, that you listened to me, and that you're all ready with your teeny tiny picket signs to wave at my little internet protest, right? "What do we want?" "MORE CREEL!" "When do we want it?" "NOW!" I know that we have an uphill struggle here. Jessica's got other stuff to contend with, like her publisher, and the fact that she's been writing other awesome books, blah blah blah. But I believe that if we all hope with all our hearts we can influence this outcome. YES WE CAN. (Okay, back to Jessica now.) How are the pigs in blankets? Look, Jessica - I'm going to read anything you write. (I just finished PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL and now, almost 12 months after publication, it has to go on my best of the year list.) If you write a fantasy where a bowl of oatmeal comes to life, I'm going to read it. And I'm going to read it whether there's ever any more about Creel or not. I'm just saying, if you're hanging around sometime in the future and you're bored and don't have anything else to write, I'd like some more, please. It was a really good party. I'd like to stay. But if you move on to another party, I'll come too. (Not in a stalkery way.) And thanks for Creel, because I really do love her, and I can't wait to share her with my daughter in seven or eight years.

And that's it - the endings to four series I loved, all hitting in the same year. I'm leaving these characters behind with a great deal of sorrow, but I can't wait to see what these authors do next.